Best. Year. Ever.

I know, I know. Everyone is always in a rush to declare things as “the best ever.” Trust me, I think it’s ridiculous too. It lacks perspective. But the year 2008 really has been the best year in Celtics history. I’m not talking about this season or last season. I’m talking about January to December

I make my case, and end it with a slide show of some of the championship moments, on the Examiner. So check it out.

8 Responses

While you’d rank this the best year in Celtics history, is it the best team? Bigger question: is this year’s squad better than any team in NBA history? How would the big three match up again Michael Jordan and his Bulls?

Seriously, questions I’d love to see Skip Bayless on ESPN answer, except the jerk is spending too much time ranking the best looking quarterbacks in the NFL.

Why would you want Skip Bayless, of all people, to answer these questions? Almost every time he speaks, I’m reminded of how little he actually knows about sports. He’s only on ESPN because of how opinionated he is.

Scott - December 20, 2008 at 11:13 pm

I’m not going to say this team is better than any team in history because we’re not even out of December yet. But it does have that potential. Obviously, at this rate, 72 wins is a possibility.

As for match ups. Let’s see:

PG: Rondo vs. Ron Harper – advantage-Rondo

Harper was good for that team and he was a good jump shooter, but Rondo is just too fast for him.

SG: Jordan vs. Ray allen – even

Hah, just kidding. Although I will say this: Back in Jordan’s time, hand checking was legal. Not that it would make a difference… I just wanted to say.

SF: Pippen vs. Pierce – edge: Pierce

If Pierce can play LeBron James to a standstill, he can out-play Pippen.

PF: Rodman vs. Garnett -advantage KG

Rodman was obviously a really good defender and a crazy rebounder. But he’s smaller than KG, and ZERO offensive threat. So KG could shoot over the top of him, and help WAY off of him in the post.

C: Perk vs. Wennington: advantage Perk

Wennington was a serviceable C, but not much more than that. In today’s NBA, Wennington would be a back up at best.

I think Powe could handle Simpkins… or at least play him even. Kukoc is a tough cover. House and Kerr are similar players. But no one on their bench could stay with Tony Allen.

Taking all things into account… I think this Celtics team would win a 7 game series against that Bulls team. Jordan is obviously Jordan… and who knows how he’d be handled. BUT, I think the key here is that Jordan would be reduced to a jump shooter because KG could help so far off of Rodman, that lanes would be blocked off. Then Perk could rotate off of Wennington and box Rodman out when the shot goes up. I’ll let KG and Wennington fight over the free ball. Unless it goes right to him, Wennington has no shot at that rebound. Meanwhile, Rondo can blow right by Ron Harper and either get to the hole, or find open guys on the rotation like he’s been doing lately.

There it is. Biased? Probably… but to hell with the 95-96 Bulls. They dominated at the league’s lowest point. They wouldn’t win 72 games today. Not even close.

dang, throwing down the gauntlet! awesome. we need to get some bulls fans over on here to get this thing fired up.

only thing i’d say is that in a seven game series some interesting things happen that go beyond individual matchups. also, the jordan-pippen combo was quite remarkeable, maybe a case of the sum being greater than the parts.

have our c’s reached that level of synergy yet? maybe they have. i would like the chances of our starting five against theirs, though. i actually had this same discussion with a coworker who is a bulls fan recently.

the bottom line is that it would go down to the wire, and whichever team won it would be one of the greatest matchups ever. no matter what barkely says about that era vs. this.

I think every single one of those match-ups is debatable outside of Jordan-Allen and maybe Garnett-Rodman.

It would be an amazing matchup nonetheless….. I think this deserves to be a post all by itself.

I think the key thing to remember is that both teams cant be measured by their individual matchups. Basketball isn’t about matchups. Its about how a team plays with each other. The Celtics team has a sum that is way greater than it’s collective parts. Perk, really not a very good big man, but put him on this team and he is a huge contributor to one of the best teams of all-time.

And individual match-ups don’t account for Jordan’s greatness. He’s the most talented player in the history of professional sports. And he always had that extra-something about him that just willed his team to win.

Tim (FD) - December 21, 2008 at 1:31 pm

[…] got into this discussion a little in the comments of the Best Year Ever post: how do the C’s compare to the 95-96 Bulls. ESPN has already started to track how […]